The Wyoming Department of Education WDE) launched its Open Range Wyoming website, an Open Education Resources (OER) platform dedicated to developing and sharing materials from around the state and the world. OERs include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. A video offers an overview.

The resources developed and shared to Open Range Wyoming are aligned to Wyoming Content and Performance Standards and will be added to the platform hosted on OER Commons.

Contact Alisa Cook at 307-777-3679 or alisa.cook1@wyo.gov.

The WDE seeks presenters to offer professional development to social studies teachers on January 9-10, 2020 at Central Wyoming College in Riverton. The training should offer teaching materials and resources that can easily be adapted into the attendees’ classrooms. 

Presentations are welcome that address all six of Wyoming's social studies standards.

If you are interested in presenting, complete this form.

"The Art of Home: A Wind River Story," a film about Wind River artists, premieres on Wyoming PBS November 11 at 8 p.m. and repeats November 15 at 8 p.m.

The documentary examines the role of artistic expression in the past, present, and future of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. Produced by Jordan Dresser and Audrey Long.

Watch the trailer.

On August 3, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a resolution declaring November as National American Indian Heritage Month, often referred to as Native American Heritage Month. 

For educators, a variety of resources are available to engage students in related activities. Among them:

• The National Museum of the American Indian's Native Knowledge 360° Essential Understandings offers new possibilities for creating student learning experiences. 
• The Wind River Education Project is a series of Wyoming PBS videos and lesson plans about the history and culture of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho people.
• Wyohistory.org offers a number of articles about Wyoming’s indigenous peoples, plus “digital toolkits” that serve as lesson plans on a number of American Indian topics.
• “Two Nations – One Reservation” is a pop-up exhibit on the history of the Wind River Reservation from Wyoming Humanities.
• The Buffalo Bill Center of the West offers school programs and resources for teaching Plains Indians history and culture.
• Also, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) released a report summarizing the landscape of efforts by states to bring high-quality educational content about Native peoples and communities into all classrooms.

The Film Institute is offering free movies and lesson plans to help students read a film on three levels: as a narrative document, a cinematic document, and a historical/cultural document.

The Portrait of America curriculum’s interdisciplinary approach challenges students to tap their knowledge of civics, social studies, and history, as well as their knowledge of literature, science, and the arts, to read non-print texts.

The first three of eight modules, The Immigrant Experience, The American Laborer, and Civil Rights, are online now.

What does it mean to be an American? Discover compelling stories of creativity, struggle, and resilience in resources for K–12 educators from the National Gallery of Art, featuring works of art that reflect the richness and diversity of the people, places and cultures of the United States. 

Encourage creative, critical, and historical thinking in your students as you examine works of art from the country’s creation to the present day.

March 2-3, 2020 in Cheyenne

Poetry Out Loud is a free national program offered by the National Endowment for the Arts. Students in grades 9-12 learn about great poetry through recitation and performance, helping develop and improve their public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and discover a love of poetry and the written word.

State competition expenses are paid by the Wyoming Arts Council for educators and high school finalists. The state champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete at the National Finals on April 27–29, 2020. The state champion’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up receives $100 and his or her school will receive $200 for purchase of poetry materials. 

Since 1955, “Wyoming,” words by Charles E. Winter and music by George E. Knapp, has been the official state song of Wyoming. House Enrolled Act 52 of the 2018 legislative session established a second Wyoming state song: “Wyoming, Where I Belong” by Annie and Amy Smith.

District use of these songs aligns to music standards in the K-12 Fine & Performing Arts Standards and Social Studies Standards.

A video of “Wyoming Where I Belong” is available as is sheet music.

Back-to-School Literature Resources (Grades 3-12)  

CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3-12 classrooms. 

Search and filter the collection by lexile, grade, theme, genre, literary device, or common core standard to build your literature library for the new school year.

Deadline: December 16, 2019

The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship invites young entrepreneurs to think big and come up with ideas for addressing some of the most critical issues facing humanity. Anyone aged 13 to 24 is eligible. The competition is online and free to enter. 

A total of $21,600 in cash prizes will be awarded in the Fall 2019 competition cycle. The top-scoring idea in each category takes first place and wins $1,800. 

Deadline: November 5, 2019

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Award for Aspirations in Computing honors 9-12 grade girls for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions.

Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education. 

Achieve's Science Peer Review Panel is seeking submission of materials for review, particularly Earth and Space Science, and kindergarten materials. The review panel is an elite cohort of educators with expertise in the Next Generation Science Standards and the EQuIP Rubric for Science that reviews lessons and units to determine the extent to which they are designed for the NGSS.

Lessons and units that are rated by the panel as Examples of High Quality NGSS Design, Examples of High Quality NGSS Design If Improved, or Quality Works in Progress will be publicly posted along with the criterion-based EQuIP feedback.

Deadline for applications: January 3, 2020

The Environmental Protection Agency is calling on high school students to help promote awareness of harmful algal blooms through creative filmmaking as part of the EPA's See it Bloom, Give it Room contest.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are overgrowths of algae in water bodies that can affect water quality and aquatic life. Students are encouraged to make an informational video about 1) How to spot harmful algal blooms, and 2) How to be safe around them.  

Winning individuals or teams for each state in the EPA's Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions and two regional tribal winners will each receive a $2,000 cash prize. Two grand prize winners will also be selected to receive $4,000.

For questions, contact R7PublicAffairs@epa.gov.

July 1-11, 2020 in Peru

The Morpho Institute's Educator Academy in the Amazon Rainforest provides professional development designed to transform student learning. Immersed in the Peruvian Amazon, teachers learn about this key global ecosystem while building their ability to engage students in scientific research, engineering design, cross-cultural connections, and stewardship projects. Field workshops support NGSS 3D learning, STEM, 5E and more.

The fee of $2,695 includes pre-departure prep, a resource kit, and in-country land costs (airfare is not included). Scholarships of $1,250 are available. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2020.